In the uncertainty of life and the instability offered by most days, we often find ourselves continually searching for promises to count on.
Where can we tether our hearts for stability when everything feels tangled?
Simeon was just a guy who loved the Lord, as Luke 2:25 points out. God had revealed to him that he would see the Lord’s Christ before he died. Simeon did not take the promise of God lightly. He didn’t overthink it. He didn’t seem to doubt it. He just acted as if what God said was true and positioned himself for it.
We are offered the same opportunity. I tether my heart to God’s Word when I consistently tend it into my soul, taking time to pray, examining the verse, and noticing the lesson, then I have the opportunity to act on it or not. Habakkuk stood on the watchtower to wait with expectation that God was true to His Word. And you and I get to do likewise.
Simeon did, in fact, see the Lord’s Christ that day in Luke 2 because his heart was tethered not tangled.
- He believed what God’s Word said. He believed it enough to put action to it. Simeon came into the temple in the Spirit (Luke 2:27) because he was right with God, cautious and God-fearing (Luke 2:25). Because of his intimacy with God, he had spent time with God in such a way that God revealed the promise of seeing the Messiah to him.
- He laid down his expectations of how God should respond. He was the first, outside of the family that recognized Jesus as the Christ. While others were looking for a king and conqueror, Simeon was open with expectation to whatever God might do and however He might do it.
- He refused to be distracted. Rather than remaining in the marketplace or staying home, Simeon focused on God and showed up to the temple. He may not have known the form or age of the Lord’s Christ but he knew to expect God in the temple. You and I can expect God to speak through His Word, so we let distractions keep us from His Word, we rob ourselves of intimacy with Him that Simeon wasn’t willing to allow. So he showed up where he knew he could expect God.
What if you and I take God at His Word, lay down our short sighted expectations and refuse to let the distractions of the world consume us? What if we just consistently come to where we know we will find the Lord, in His Word?
Come to His Word with faith, expectation and focus knowing God is who He says He is and will do what He promises He will do.
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